


Isolation

by watcherofworlds



Series: Whumptober 2019 [7]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Episode: s06e18 Fundamentals, Prompt Fill, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 17:02:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20951831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: Prompt fill for Whumptober Day 7 "Isolation"





	Isolation

Over the last eleven years, Oliver had never truly been alone. There’d always been others on the island with him, and he’d had the Yamashiros in Hong Kong and Anatoly and Talia in Russia. Even at the start of his crusade, when he’d worked alone, he’d never truly felt alone. He did now.  
His team had broken apart. Thea had left Star City on her quest to destroy the Lazarus pits. Dig had left what remained of the team behind just a week ago, and now Oliver had lost his family too. He was left alone in the bunker, with only his thoughts and his Vertigo induced hallucinations for company.  
The more he thought about it, the more he wondered if this had been Diaz’s goal all along- to manipulate circumstances so that he would react to them in a way that ended up driving away everyone he cared about, leaving him isolated. If there was anything that Oliver had learned from the last month of fighting Diaz, it was the man, for all his faults of temper, was an excellent- and patient- strategist. He had clearly figured out that Oliver was much less of a threat to him and his plans alone than he was with his team to back him up.  
The worst part of this was that Oliver had done it to himself. He might not have been responsible for Thea leaving, but he had been responsible for the schism in the team, and he had driven Dig to leave what was left of it to join ARGUS, and it was his actions that had led to him losing Felicity and William as well. He had played right into Diaz’s hands, had done exactly what he wanted and reacted exactly the way he’d wanted him too at every turn, and now that he’d realized it, it was too late and he wasn’t in a fit mental state to stop it.  
That is not the man I married. Felicity’s last words to him echoed mockingly in his mind, a fresh, painful reminder that his greatest enemy, the cause of all his pain and sorrow and isolation, was himself.


End file.
